N.J. man found with hundreds of child porn images sentenced to 9 years in prison

BURLINGTON — A federal judge in Camden sentenced a 62-year-old man to nine years in prison Monday after he had previously pleaded guilty to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography on a home computer, including images that showed minors being sexually abused in sadistic or masochistic ways, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

Patrick McGuigan, of Burlington, pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas, who sentenced him.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, authorities said, McGuigan had admitted to having the images on his computer in June 2010. In addition, he had acknowledged that the images showed minors engaging in sexual conduct with other minors and adults — and that some images showed violent acts that were sadistic or masochistic in nature.

Authorities said the images were brought to the attention of law enforcement by a McGuigan family member who did maintenance on the computer.

As part of his guilty plea, McGuigan agreed to forfeit computers and computer accessories that he’d used to commit the crime, authorities said.

In addition to giving him prison time, Irenas also sentenced McGuigan to a lifetime of supervised release, authorities said.

In sentencing McGuigan, Irenas took into account his pattern of abuse or exploitation of children, authorities said.